Drivers to watch
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – One was smiling, the other scowling as a pair of NASCAR champions completed their final practice session before Sunday's season-opening Daytona 500.
Jeff Gordon could not have been more pleased with his Chevrolet following his short Saturday practice session, confident he's got a solid shot at winning a fourth Daytona 500. Tony Stewart wasn't as certain after a wreck with teammate Ryan Newman forced both Stewart-Haas Racing drivers into backup cars on the eve of NASCAR's biggest event of the season.
Both are among the 10 drivers to watch Sunday in the Super Bowl of racing:
1. Jeff Gordon: He's coming off his first winless season since his 1993 rookie campaign, and Gordon said the down year intensified his desire to return to Victory Lane. He won one of Thursday's qualifying races and knows the victory in the non-points event doesn't count toward breaking his 41-race winless streak.
But Thursday's win gave him confidence and momentum that he hopes will carry over into both Daytona and the rest of the NASCAR season. He ran just 11 laps in Saturday's final session, then declared his Hendrick Motorsports team ready to roll.
"I haven't been this excited about a Daytona 500 in a long time," he said.
2. Tony Stewart: The two-time series champion saw months of hard work fall apart when teammate Ryan Newman lost a right-rear tire early in Saturday's practice. Stewart had been trailing Newman around the track and couldn't avoid running square into Newman's spinning car. Both Chevrolets were severely damaged, Stewart-Haas Racing had to turn to a pair of backups, and Stewart put the blame on Goodyear's tires.
Stewart
"I'm ticked right now. I'm not happy. I'm not cordial. I'm not nice. I'm not anything right now and I shouldn't be,'' he said.
That anger makes Stewart a threat to win Sunday. His record shows he runs well when he's unhappy, and his race team proved all week its equipment will be solid on Sunday. And remember, Stewart wrecked his car during a practice session last October at Talladega and rebounded to win his only race of the year.
3. Joey Logano: The 18-year-old has had a rollercoaster Speedweeks that seemed to even out as the Daytona 500 closed in. After several wild practice sessions, including a brush with the wall on Wednesday, he slowly began to settle in and finished fourth in his qualifying race.
Logano
Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch turned a handful of laps in Logano's car on Friday to help the rookie diagnos his Toyota, and Logano was back behind the wheel for a hefty 36-lap run in the final practice session.
"We've just been trying to get a feel for it," Logano said. "I don't know, it's just not that easy."
He didn't look bad, posting the eighth-fastest lap of the day. He should be fast in the 500, but speed doesn't equate to car control and one slight slip could make it a very long day for Logano.
4. Mark Martin: The pessimistic veteran has been a picture of optimism since moving to Hendrick Motorsports for a full-time schedule and another shot at the championship that has eluded the 50-year-old driver. His failure to win a Cup title is notorious, as his inability to win a Daytona 500. He had a shot two years ago when Kevin Harvick nipped him at the finish line, and it looks as if Martin could redeem himself on Sunday.
Martin
His car has been strong since crew chief Alan Gustafson unloaded it, and he'll start on the front row next to Martin Truex Jr. He might have won one of Thursday's qualifying races, but instead of forcing the issue, settled for second behind winner Kyle Busch.
"If that was for the Daytona 500, I think that could have been a little bit of a different outcome,'' teammate Jeff Gordon said.
5. Dale Earnhardt Jr.: NASCAR's most popular driver has had a very quiet Speedweeks, but can't be counted out in a restrictor-plate race.
Earnhardt Jr.
Few have seemed to notice that Junior led a race-high 23 laps in the Budweiser Shootout before he was caught in a wreck, and he overcame an early tire problem that dropped him a lap down before he rallied to finish sixth in his qualifying race.
The 2004 Daytona 500 winner was seventh-fastest in Saturday's practice, and said after he loved his car.
6. Jamie McMurray: McMurray almost won the Budweiser Shootout, until Kevin Harvick snatched the win away on the last lap. McMurray has still been fast ever since, even though he wrecked his Daytona 500 car during Wednesday's practice session.
McMurray
His Roush Fenway Racing team elected to use the runner-up Shootout car as the backup, and McMurray is confident he'll be fine in the 500. This is a critical year for McMurray – he's in the final year of his contract with Roush Fenway – and he's hoping to carry over the momentum from last season – when he closed out with three straight third-place finishes – to set the tone for a strong season in 2009.
"It was really good, I think, for the Shootout to go the way it did, and our car for the 500 is going to be really good, too,'' McMurray said.
7. The Busch Brothers: Kyle Busch proved last year he's a great restrictor-plate racer, nearly winning the Daytona 500 and finally breaking through with a spring win at Talladega and a victory in the July race at Daytona. He then picked up where he left off with a win in his Thursday qualifying race to earn a second-row starting spot.
Kyle Busch
He's spent a good amount of time working with teammate Joey Logano this week, but Busch will be out for himself in the Daytona 500.
And don't count out his big brother Kurt Busch, who is an excellent plate-racer but just doesn't have the wins to show for it. Kurt Busch has eight top-five finishes in 16 Daytona starts and has finished second in the 500 a frustrating three times. Last year, he pushed former teammate Ryan Newman to the victory, and Busch doesn't want to let another one slip away.
He was third-fastest in the final practice session and declared himself ready.
"It's just time to go racing,'' he said.
8. Greg Biffle: Keep on eye on Biffle, mainly to see if he can overcome the problems that have plagued him all week.
Biffle
The savvy veteran has seemed to hit everything in sight while preparing for the 500. He finished 17th in last week's Budweiser Shootout, crashing at least twice to fall six laps down. Then, during his Thursday qualifying race, he again wrecked several times to fall three laps down before finishing 24th.
He starts 35th in the 500, but was fifth-fastest in the final practice and says he's not worried about his previous incidents.
"I feel good," he said. "We've been down here and bolting a bunch of stuff on it for the last two or three days – it seems like two weeks. But right there, that last session, I was pretty happy."
9. Carl Edwards: Who? The driver picked to win the championship this season has been off the radar all of Speedweeks, and the 500 will show if he's simply been playing possum the entire time.
Edwards
He was a quiet seventh in the Budweiser Shootout and finished an uneventful eighth in his qualifying race. Edwards starts 16th in the 500, his first restrictor-plate race since he caused a multi-car accident at Talladega in October that led to a weeklong spat with rival Kevin Harvick.
Edwards visited with Ryan Newman following his 500 win last year and wants to experience the same feeling of elation.
"He got back from all of the Victory Lane stuff … and literally it was like he was walking on a foot of air," Edwards said. "I want to know what that feels like."
10. The Field Fillers: AJ Allmendinger, Jeremy Mayfield, Regan Smith and Scott Riggs all raced their way into the Daytona 500. How long will they stay in?
Allmendinger
All four drivers are saddled with uncertainty when it comes to this upcoming season, and strong Daytona 500 finishes could go a long way toward securing the sponsorship needed to race deep into the year.
Allmendinger has an eight-race deal with Richard Petty Motorsports, and Smith has a partial schedule lined up with Furniture Row Racing.
Mayfield is running his own team, but he needs funding to make it to all 36 races. Riggs is driving for Tommy Baldwin's upstart organization, and although they are determined to run all year, a big Sunday paycheck would make a major contribution.
